Being a Mummy One Baby Step at a Time

Christmas 2016

I can’t believe that after all the prep and running around it’s all over – bye bye Christmas 2016!

I’ve seen so many posts from other bloggers rounding up their Christmas that I thought hey why not! We all get so busy at this time of year that it’s easy to forget all the great things that we’ve been up to. So here it is my 2016 Christmas round up.

At the beginning of the year I decided to book some Christmas leave which means I’m spending a lovely two weeks at home with baby K and I have to say it has been amazing and I’m literally dreading going back to work but hey ho.

This year has been extra special as baby K now understands about Christmas, presents and Santa so I’ve managed to plan loads of Christmas activities for us to get stuck in to and will hopefully continue to do as each year passes.

We kicked off the festive season by putting up our Christmas tree on the 29th of November, yep November! OK I know it seems early but to be fair we had valid reason which was Mr H was working a day shift on the weekend so I figured why not put it up a little early on a day where we’re both off, so up it went!

That weekend baby K and I took a trip to Forty Hall for their Children’s Magical Christmas event, even though Forty Hall is local to me I’ve never been before and I have to say what beautiful grounds and estate. I was a little disappointed with the actual event as even though I booked our tickets in August I didn’t realise that you also had to pre-book all the activities, so unfortunately baby K didn’t get to take part in any of the crafts or the horse and carriage ride which was a shame, but he had fun listening to an elf read The Night Before Christmas and running around the actual grounds and chasing the ducks!

On the Wednesday my mum and I went to watch The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum with a nice meal at Pizza Express, which was my birthday present to her. We caught the tube to Leicester Square as we had a reservation at Pizza Express where we ate some good food and then walked down to the Coliseum for the show and it was amazing!

The venue itself is beautiful and the actual show was mesmerising and I can see how people go to watch it every year, I think it’s definitely something you have to go and watch once.

That Saturday we took baby K to see Santa at Willows Activity Farm along with some friends which was really nice as it meant baby K had children his age to enjoy it with. It was really foggy when we headed out and it did not lift the whole day we where there, which is probably why most of the fair was closed, but nonetheless the kids had a great day.

We got there a little late so our first stop was to meet up with the others and grab a bite to eat at the restaurant and then to go straight to the build a husky hut where the kids got to stuff their own husky teddy which was cute to watch.

The queue to see Santa was a little on the long side so we decided to go and feed the animal and jump on Tristan the Tractor for a festive ride round the farm, before going to visit the man in red.

On Sunday we went to watch a Christmas Panto at Dugdale Theatre in Enfield which wasn’t quite what I expected, but the kids enjoyed it which is the main thing.

My friend and I thought it would be a more traditional Christmas panto but it was very interactive which meant the kids could get down and dance and sing with the puppets, I felt it was a bit more party entertainer than Christmas panto but for £8 a ticket you can’t complain!

Christmas Eve was spent running around doing prezzie drop offs to friends and family, which I have vowed not to leave to the last minute next year as there’s so many people to get around so note to self and all, when I finally got home I was shattered but excited to give baby K his Christmas Eve box to open. After eating dinner, giving baby K a bath and putting on a movie I gave him his box of Christmas Eve gifts to open which was really lovely to watch as he was so excited even though it was full of loads of small bits and bobs.

Once we put out our carrot for Rudolph and milk and cookie for Santa we went to bed to read The Night Before Christmas, luckily baby K fell asleep with no complaints so it was down to fill his stocking with gifts and spend the rest of the night watching movies and chilling with Mr H.
Christmas morning began at 6am for us as baby K decided to be an early bird and wake up full of beans, so we where all sitting downstairs watching Zootropolis whilst it was still dark outside, I decided to let baby K open his stocking before breakfast so he could play with everything before opening his bigger gifts.

Once we ate breakfast we got down to opening the prezzies under the tree, which took a while because baby K wanted to play with some of them. Once all the presents where opened we chilled out for a bit then got dressed and headed to my mums for more Christmas gift giving, dinner and games.
Boxing day is always spent with my parents as it’s my brothers birthday, unfortunately Mr H started his night shifts so we spent most of the day at home relaxing. My brother wanted to go out for a family meal so we headed off to Miller and Carter for some steak, which went down a treat.The rest of the evening was spent at my mums playing cards and yes once again eating!

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas, now it’s time to get ready for New Years Eve!
~ X ~

5 Comments

Sounds like a wonderful Christmas! I’m taking Seren to see a kids’ version of the Nutcracker on Saturday – I can’t wait! The show you went to at the Dugdale – was it Christmas Tales from the Shed? I took Imogen (I’ve been to various Tales from the Shed shows over the years so knew what to expect) – she loved it. I love that it’s interactive and they can get down to the stage – as she doesn’t really sit still!

Oh a kids version of The Nutcracker sounds great, I took my mum to see the original was amazing, she’s going to love it! Yep that’s exactly the one it was, the kids loved it but I didn’t feel like it was really Christmassy, both of them where up there playing and dancing but again for the price and it being so local you can’t complain.

What a lovely Christmas! You packed so much in, I bet the little guy had a fabulous time. Its a shame about not knowing the pre-book at the events at the country house, but it sounds like you had a lovely time regardless. I love the Nutcracker too, you’ve reminded me to try and book for next Christmas 🙂 Great post, thanks for sharing it on #MarvMondays. Emily

We did get a lot in, although I did want to go and see the lights in Central London but just didn’t have the time. I think where I work in London Bridge I get a bit lazy on the weekend and don’t want to make that same journey! Just to let you know I think the tickets go on sale for The Nutcracker in April or May, I nearly missed them because I thought they went on sale in June! x